Quick question about yeast/starters

[doublebogey10]

Have the day off today and want to brew. Only thing I have on hand are ingredients for a big belgian beer (~1.075-1.080). But obviously, it's too late to make a starter , if starting mash in the next hour or so, with the Wyeast Trappist I have.
I also have US-05 and Notty on hand.
Is there a thought to just pitching the smack pack of Wyeast and 05? Or do one now and another a few days or more into fermentation? If so, which order?
Or is this just a bad idea?

 

[Paradigm]

Hi! I recently wanted to brew a Baltic Porter and did some reading. Turns out that a big beer is a lot of work that new brewers are not prepared for. I certainly wasn't. I'm planning on doing one by the end of the year, but this is my thread about yeast in a high ABV beer. It started about over-pitching but it turns out I needed WAY more yeast than expected.

Some very helpful and knowledgeable guys told me that for a Balctic Porter (OG of 1.1) I'd need around 900 billion yeast cells, or a 9 liter starter with about $60 worth of wyeast packets in there. A 1.075-1.08 is a lot smaller than a 1.1, but the fact remains you'd probably need a lot more yeast than you're expecting if you've never done a high ABV beer.

If you're more experienced, sorry if the advice is unwanted. I almost wasted a lot of time, money and yeast and thought I'd share. I did a quick mrmalty, and you're probably looking at 3.5 smack-packs without a starter (I assumed 80% viability).

I have no idea what happens when you mix yeast strains.

Edit: For reference I used 2 dry packs of safbrew t-58 for a 1.072 that should end up being 8.1 ABV, and as far as I can tell dry yeast has more cells than a smack-pack

 

[doublebogey10]

Thanks.

I think I am going to go ahead and pitch the Trappist and the 05. It's chilling now so will wait to see what my OG was (still trying to dial in efficiency with my grain mill -- missed badly last time).
My thought is that the US05 is so neutral that it shouldn't impart too much on the beer, though it could dial down the flavor impact of the Trappist.
I could always get another smack pack of the Trappist or something like the French Saison to finish it up if it stalls, I suppose.

 

[JimRausch]

Let us know how it turns out. Will one strain overtake the other? Will the Belgian flavors come out? Will the higher temps used for the Belgian strain do funky things to the US-05? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[doublebogey10]

I'm guessing I've brewed about 40 batches of beer in my life. This is the most vigorous fermentation I've ever had. By far.
The OG came in at 1.072. I have 5.5 gallons in a 6-gallon carboy. Put a blowoff tube in to start on Monday when I put it in the fermenter. By the next morning (~12 hours), it was rolling hard with krausen and air going into the blowoff bucket.
I woke up this morning, 36 hours after brewing, to Mt. Vesuvius. The bung had been blown out of the carboy. Had a mess caked on the walls, underneath the shelf it was below, everything (thankful I had the carboy in a tub so didn't have to clean the floors).
I am fermenting in my utility room. I have a pale ale about two weeks in sitting right next to it. The fermometer on the pale is about 64. The fermometer on this beer is about 73.
So, if nothing else, the yeast combo are working their asses off right now.

Working name on this beer is simply: Big Bad Belgian

 

[doublebogey10]

Update: racked to keg tonight. Measured final gravity: 1.008. From OG of 1.072.
So yeast did their job. Was hoping to get a nice, dry finish and it should be exactly that.
Fermented in low 60s for ~three weeks. Brought it up to low 70s for five days or so and then crashed for 36 house before I put it in the keg.
Taste sample was amazing. Some nice fruity and slight peppery notes. Definite Belgian feel. So I don't think the 05 muted it too much.


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[doublebogey10]

Pulled off keg tonight.
Good beer. Still needs some time to settle a bit.
Trappist yeast qualities are there. Lots of fruit notes. I think the 05 did what I was hoping it would do: help dry it out while letting the Trappist take center stage.


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